Photographically printing on materials



Nov. 21, 1950 L. R. STEWART 2,531,085

PHOTOGRAPHICALLY PRINTING ON MATERIALS Filed Jan. 17, 1947 INVENTOR LEIZ E ROSE STEWART 7 ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 21 1950 UNITED STATES, PAT N OFFICE PHOTOGRAPHICALLY PRINTING N MATERIALS Leize Rose Stewart, New York, N. Y.

Application January 17, 1947, Serial No. 7 22,694

1 Claim. (01. 9577.5)

This invention relates to a process for photographically printing with dyes upon materials such as fabric, leather, paper, plastics, furs and the like, and to an apparatus for employing the said process.

Broadly, it is an object of my invention to provide a continuous process for printing photographically upon materials in one or more colors.

In my invention, the fabric is impregnated with a dye soluble in water and when exposed to light in the presence of air becomes insoluble in water. By the use of a photographic negative which is subjected to light, a fabric impregnated with a dye soluble in water, a photographically printed design corresponding to the negative will be printed upon the fabric or other material. The

fabric thus printed is fast to light and is insoluble in water while the dye of the fabric which has not been subjected to the light through a negative in the printing process is soluble in water and is readily removed by a simple washing operation. In this process, it is not necessary to finish the photographically printed areas of the dyed fabric other than the exposure of the dyed fabric to the action of light through the negative. The dye which has not been acted upon by the light as already stated is easily washed out by a washing operation.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method whereby a fabric may be printed with the same design through a photographic negative on both sides of the fabric.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide a method and device which can photographically produce a design on one side of the fabric and an entirely different design on the opposite side of the fabric.

A further object of the invention is to continually and photographically produce a design in multi-color on one side of the fabric and an entirely different design in multi-color on the opposite side of the same fabric.

Still a further object of the invention is to provide printed material with multi-color designs by overlapping areas of negatives of same design in order to superimpose one area over the other to produce additional colors, such as secondary colors, for example, in printing blue over yellow vto obtain an additional color, such as green. V

For a fuller understanding of the nature and objects of the invention, reference is had to the pr0cess of printing material such as gray goods.

The method involved in the process of photographically printing dyed fabrics will be best understood by the following description of the movement of the fabric through the apparatus shown in the drawing, in which parts are broken away for the purpose of better illustration, and in which i I designates a frame carrying a roll of gray goods I2, which is held upon the frame H, by means of a shaft I3. A trough I4 is secured upon the frame I l and contains a sensitizing dye solution It, and is provided with an angular tray 16, and roller i'a', mounted within the tray near the angle thereof.

The end of the fabric i2 is fed under the roller I1, and passes from there to opposed squeeze rollers l8 and H, which are mounted in said frame Ii. From the said squeeze rollers l8 and IS, the fabric passes under a guide roller 29, and over a guide roller 2!, both of which rollers are mounted upon a second frame 22. The fabric then passes over a series of rollers 23, upon the said frame 22, the said rollers having pins 23 upon their outer peripheries which are adapted to engage the selvage of the fabric as same move along.

From the pin rollers 23, the fabric passes under and moves with a transparent cylinder 24 of glass or other suitable transparent material, within which are suitably mounted high power lighting units 25 which move with the said cylinder 24 as it revolves upon its carrying shaft 26. The said fabric l2 then passes around and moves with a second transparent cylinder 2?, which rotates in a direction opposite to the rotating movement of the cylinder 24. The said second cylinder 21 is also provided with high power lighting units 28, and is rotatively mounted upon a shaft, 29. Both of the said cylinders are carried upon the frame 22, and rotary motion is given the cylinders by means of a motor 30, connecting belt 3|, pulleys 32, 33 and 34, connecting belt 35, double grooved pulley 34', crossed belt 36 and pulley 36'.

From the transparent cylinder 21, the fabric passes over a guide roller 31, and thence down to and under a roller 38, mounted in a tray 39, thence up to a roller 48, mounted upon a frame 4|, constituting a part of a washing mechanism. From the roller 69 the fabric passes downwardly and upwardly in successive order in the following manner: under the roller 42, which is mounted in a tray 43, over the roller 44, under the roller 45 in a tray 46, over the roller 41, under a roller 48 in a tray 49, and thence upwardly to and around a. framing and drying drum 50.

The said framing and drying drum 50 is roqthe saidupper and lower rollers. provided to. produce a soapy water in the first tatably mounted in a frame and is providedv with pins 50, which grip the selvage of the fabric to dry and stretch it to its original size. The fabric, after moving around with the said drying drum 50, passes around and under a guide roller 52, to a second drying and finishing drum 53. The finished fabric is then wound upon a roll 54.

A storage tank 55 is mounted upon the aforesaid frame l, and carries a sensitizing dye solution which may be fed to the trough it, through an outlet 56, having a valve 51.

Under the trays 39, 43, 4'6 and 48, there is provided an overall tray 58, having a drawoff cook 59. A water supply pipe 65 is suitably attached to the upper portion of the frame 4|, and has depending branches 6| having water outlets 62, through which water maybe sprayed upon one side of the fabric as it moves between the upper and lower rollers of the washing apparatus. Extending upwardly from the tray 58 there is a vsecond series of water pipes :63, having outlets .64,,-through which water may be sprayed upon the reverse side of the fabric as it moves between Means maybe or second tray through which the fabric passes ',during its progress. A receptacle 61 may be interposed in one or more of the said water-spraying pipes, and employed to saponify the water emitted from said pipes. Suitable means (not .shown) may be provided to rotate the drying .drums and the rollers of the washing mechanism.

With-the method and apparatus herewith disclosed, a fabric may be photographically printed upon one or both sides. When the fabric is to :be printed upon one .side, the cylinder 24 is used for photographically imprinting a figure or design ,-upon same. When, however, both sides of the fabric are to be photographically imprinted,

both cylinders 24 and 21, are employed.

Thedyesensitizer ,used in the tank 55, is heated either before it is placed therein or while the sensitizer is in the trough. Such dye is normally soluble in water and rendered insoluble bybeing subjected to the action of light. .Dyes with this propertyare esters of leuco combinations of vat dyes, the salts of esters of leuco combinations-of vatdyes-being preferred. The leuco esters:com- .binations, or compounds are available in a wide ;range of colors.

.In order to prepare the right sensitizer dye solution, the solution of the esters of leuco compounds of vat dyes is dissolved in water at a temperature of approximately 150 F. in the proportion of about 20 grams of dye to 1 liter of water. For the color brown, warmer water is .used, specifically water at a temperature of 180 ,F. In the case of certain dyes, 4 cc. of formic acid per liter of the dye solution is added. The ,addition of formic acid in the above mentioned quantity accelerates the action of the light on the dye and renders the later insoluble, except, however, in the case of a color where the action of light is relatively'slow. In some instances :it has-been found that-the use-of hygroscopic agents such as glycerine, and particularly urea, have a favorable accelerating influence.

Thesolution in trough M at the-time of emersion of the material may be at ordinary room temperature except when'a less soluble dye,-such as a brown dye is used, at which timethe solution is kept at a temperature preferably of 140 F. since the brown dye has a tendency to crystallize at room temperature.

Assuming that the upper side of the fabric is to be photographically imprinted, a negative is suitably attached against the outer surface of the glass cylinder 25, and the units 25 lighted. Sensitized dye solution is fed from the tank 55, into the trough it, and the fabric 12 is fed through the apparatus as already described. As the fabric passes through the sensitizing dye solution :5, in-the trough l4, it becomes impregnated with the solution and is then passed between the squeeze rollers l3 and 19, where the excess dye solution is pressed out and allowed to drip upon an extension ll, of the said angular tray it, from whence it drains into the trough i4. After passing through the said squeeze rollers the fabric is led over the pin rollers 2323 to and under the transparentcylinder 24, around and with which it turns while the rays from the light unit.25 pass through the negative upon the said cylinder exposing parts of the sensitized fabric tothe actionof thesaid light rays, and wherever said light rays pass through the negativethe partsof the fabric'afiected by the light raysare rendered insoluble, while the parts unaffected by the light rays remain soluble and are easily Washed .away.

The washing process isaccomplishedby passing the fabric through a seriesof tanks'39, 43,

46 and 48, one or more of which may contain saponifred water .while subsequent tanks may hold clear water. Supplementing the water .in .the tanks are the said sprayer pipes 5|, which spray addition water upon the upper surface of the fabric.

From the-washingmechanism the fabricpasses to the drying and framing drum 50, which drum and may be-drawn offthrough the drawoif-tapES.

To print upon both sides of-the fabric, the second cylinder 27 is brought into play. ,A negative is suitably .attached thereon :and the light units within the said cylinder 2l, are turned on,

thusbringing both-cylinders 24 and 21, intoaction. The fabric passes through thesensitizing dye solution in trough l4, squeeze rollers .l8 and i9, and over the rollers 23 23, to and around the saidcylinders 2.4v and 2l,'where the light rays will;act upon the exposed parts on bothsides'of the sensitized fabric in themanner already described for a .single printing operation. 'From the cylinders and 27,1the fabricpasses through the Washing unit, around the drying drums :50 and 5.3, to theitfinished roll 5.4. Both'sides of the doubly printed fabric must be washed, and-for this purpose the spraying'pipe 164,.as Wellas1the spraying .pipe 6 l ,areutilized.

Depending uponthe character of .the fabric 501' material which :has been .photographically printed, it may be necessary to'use additional framing anddrying drums-similar todrum 5,4,.in order to thoroughly dry the material andlstretch it vto its original size.

If'more than one colorjs desired for printing "on one side the finished roll-of'material 54 is passed through a i set of the identical equipment hereinbefore described except that apart ofxthezphotographic negative, or 'design carrying film-wjnich asenose is mounted on the outer surface of the cylinder is blocked out so that the remaining portion of the design may be printed. Instead of using the same dye color sensitizer, another dye color sensitizer is used; for example, if the first color printed is yellow, the second color may be printed in blue, and if it is desired to overlap the blue with the yellow in order to create green the photographic negative has its area so blocked out that certain portions of the design will overlap portions of the design of the first negative.

In some instances it is desirable to have the design printed on both sides of the fabric as, for instance, on ladies scarves. To accomplish this, similar negatives are used on both transparent cylinders 24 and 21, but attached to the cylinders in reversed order, and the fabric passed between the said cylinders. The negatives must be so positioned upon the cylinders 24 and 21, that the design on the two sides of the fabric will register or mesh.

On certain types of fabrics it may be desirable to print multicolor design on both sides of the material, the design on each side being dif ferent. In such cases, the photographic negatives on the rollers 2d and 21, are of different design, around which rollers the fabric may be passed and similar colors of both designs may be printed simultaneously on both faces of the material.

The speed of the revolutions of the various rollers, such as the squeezing rollers l3 and i9, rollers 2323, and cylinders 2d and 21, are so synchronized as to move the material continuously along at a uniform rate.

It will be understood in the operation of the apparatus hereinbefore described the material is progressively passed between the cylinders 24 and 21, so that the light rays pass through the negatives and act upon the entire length of the sencomplete removal of the surplus dye is indicated.

The process of photographically imprinting fabrics as described may also be used upon silks, rayons, cotton and linen, and fabrics containing a mixture of those already mentioned. This process is also applicable for photographically printing on leather, plastic and other like materials.

In the process described it is not only unnecessary to fix the dye after the latter has been exposed to the light but the printed fabric can be freely handled in such a manner as to facilitate production thereof and to simplify the manufacturing operations. The process, as described, makes possible continuous printing with the dye impregnated fabric in either wet or dry condition, and enables a continuous printing of repeat units of a design on successive portions along the lengths of the fabric very similar to roll printing with engraving rollers.

ti hile the preferred embodiment and method of practising the invention are herein disclosed, it is understood that the invention is susceptible to various changes, modifications and additions without departing from the general spirit of same.

I claim:

In apparatus for photographically dye printing sheet material, the combination with a rotatable transparent cylinder having a negative mounted on the wall of said cylinder and a source of light mounted interiorly of the cylinder, means for supporting a roll of said sheet material, means for impregnating said sheet material with a water soluble, light sensitive dye, means for moving the sensitized sheet material into surface contact with wall of said cylinder whereby exposed portions or the sensitized sheet material have their dye impregnant rendered water insoluble and the unexposed portions of the sensitized sheet material have their dye impregnant remaining water soluble, means for removing the water soluble dye impregnant from the exposed sheet material comprising spray means for directly applying washing solution to at least one surface of the sheet material and a container for receiving the washing solution from the spray means, means for advancing the sprayed sheet material through said container and into contact with washing solution within the container to insure complete removal of water soluble dye impregnant from the exposed sheet material and means for drying the washed, exposed sheet material.

LEIZE ROSE STEWART.

CES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,525,423 Mejia Feb. 3, 1925 1,894,092 Greene et al Jan. 10, 1933 2,041,478 Niederle May 19, 1936 2,162,016 Howell June 13, 1939 2,169,758 Capstaif Aug. 15, 1939 2,214,365 Flynn Sept. 10, 1940 2,248,056 Blaney July 8, 1941 2,365,621 Bender Dec. 19, 1944 

